OPINION:
There are those who believe politics began the day they were born. They believe nothing was ever won by conquest, but whenever disagreements arose, the offending party bowed prostrate before the aggrieved and then surrendered or forfeited plunder in the name of peace. Anyone who doesn’t agree with this is a Bush-loving neocon. No war for oil!
The political left, fresh from their defense of the Minnesota chapter of Somali pirates, is hurriedly Googling the Monroe Doctrine. Of course, nothing in the world has ever worked like this, so why should anyone pretend that such a fantasy applies to Venezuela?
These are the groups criticizing President Trump’s decisive capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Where were these “No war for oil” scenesters when Mr. Maduro’s equally murderous predecessor, Hugo Chavez, nationalized the country’s oil industry and seized American assets and American infrastructure, resulting in billions of dollars in unpaid debts?
When the Chinese Communist Party and Russia rapaciously descended upon Caracas to cut energy deals in the aftermath, no one accused them of warring for oil. China was the No. 1 importer of Venezuela’s heavy Orinoco crude, and Iran was a military and tech partner in drone trade and assembly.
Where was the condemnation as Mr. Maduro continued the asymmetrical warfare strategy of powdering the United States with cocaine and fentanyl?
In the real world, oil is lifeblood. Despite the previous administration’s attempt to kneecap our nation and force us into a relentless dependency on China’s rare earths monopoly, oil and gas are still king, and will be for a long time. Venezuela sits on the largest reserves in the world, outweighing all of OPEC. Its vast mineral deposits, gold, copper and proximity to the United States make it a dream acquisition for our enemies and a national security priority for us.
In August, when the United States increased the reward for information leading to Mr. Maduro’s arrest, Mr. Maduro gave a speech in which he dared President Trump to “get” him: “Come get me. I will wait for him here in Miraflores. Don’t be late, coward.” He called down the thunder and got it.
Mr. Maduro is a failed dictator who lost an election and never released his grip on power. He wasn’t the duly elected president of anything. He is a murderous tyrant who thrived on the indulgence of the world’s permissiveness, plucked from his Cuban-guarded fortress (for he was so loved in his own nation, he couldn’t rely on his own countrymen to protect him) and paraded in front of the press wearing sweatpants.
This wasn’t just about arresting Mr. Maduro. Nor was it about the gun charges the Justice Department flung at him, the narco-terrorism charges or even just oil. Venezuela was the linchpin for a malicious trifecta (China, Iran and Russia) all seeking to destabilize the United States in any way possible.
The drugs weren’t just drugs; they were pure asymmetrical warfare designed to kill as many Americans as possible. The same is true of the flooding of our southern border and giving imperialistic China a foothold in South America as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The move reduced China’s ability to import crude, decimated Iran’s remnant drone program and sent a warning signal to other despots in our hemisphere.
Yes, our hemisphere. It’s our hemisphere because we are the most powerful nation in it, and by the grace of God, we celebrate liberty, not the oppressive ideology promoted by tyrants in Third World feculence. We have an interest in the health of our neighbors and an interest in whether those neighbors pose a threat to our national security. Doing nothing for nearly three decades only made the problem worse. Is there still room for error? Of course, but I haven’t been convinced one exists yet.
On the issue of conflict, Mr. Trump has earned the benefit of the doubt from the public. His moves have been lightning-fast, surgical in precision and successfully concluded before they are even announced. The left’s fearmongering about quagmires has never materialized. Let him cook, as the kids say.
• Dana Loesch is the host of the No. 1 nationally syndicated weekday talk program, “Dana Show,” a bestselling author and a Second Amendment advocate. She lives in Dallas.
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